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MOBILE, Ala. – Jaguar left-hander Thomas Huston turned in a quality start to lead the University of South Alabama baseball team to a 9-4 series-clinching win over Texas State Saturday at Stanky Field.

Huston (5-2) allowed two runs on six hits with five strikeouts and five walks in 6 2/3 innings pitched to earn the win. Texas State right-hander Nicholas Fraze (4-2) allowed six runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and five walks in five innings in the loss.

"Thomas Huston throws a lot of strikes," USA head coach Mark Calvi said. "He was in and out of the zone a little too much tonight. The wind had something to do with it, but both guys had to deal with it and I am happy for Thomas getting the win. We've won the first two ballgames, and we have had good effort so far. We'll have to be good tomorrow, because Texas State is a very good team and we'll have our work cut out for us. 

South Alabama (27-17, 14-6 SBC) jumped out to a five-run lead in the bottom of the first. Dylan Hardy led off the inning with a single to right field and stole second before Colton Thomas reached on a walk. Brendan Donovan followed with an RBI double to right field to score Hardy with the game's first run. Wells Davis then lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Thomas and double the Jaguar lead at 2-0. Paul Russo reached on a two-out fielding error by Bobcat second baseman Jacob Almendarez that allowed Donovan to score for a 3-0 advantage. Jared Barnes then delivered an RBI single to left field to score Russo and extend the Jaguar lead to 4-0. A walk by Will Luft loaded the bases for Hardy, before a wild pitch by Fraze allowed Drew LaBounty to score for a 5-0 lead. 

USA pushed its lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the second on a two-out RBI single to right field by Paul Russo that scored Donovan, who reached on one-out walk earlier in the inning.

The Bobcats responded with their first runs of the game in the top of the seventh on a two-out RBI single to right field by Jonathan Ortega and an RBI single through the left side of the infield by Theodore Hoffman to cut the Jaguar advantage to 6-2. 

The Jaguars answered with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a two-out RBI double to left-center field by Drew LaBounty that scored Davis, who led off the inning with a single to center field, for a 7-2 lead. 

Texas State (22-22, 9-11 SBC) pushed across its final runs in the top of the eighth on a two-out, two-run single to center field by Jaylen Hubbard to cut the USA lead to 7-4. 

USA answered with the game's final runs in the bottom of the eighth on a one-out RBI single to right field by Davis and an RBI sacrifice bunt by Matt Bolger. 

"We had some good at-bats, got some men on and we kept scoring," Calvi said. "He (Fraze) walked some guys, he threw a couple to the backstop and gave up some hits. Next thing you know, you score five, and then we scored one in the second. He blanked us the third through the sixth, we got a little bit out of character. I want to give him some credit there, he settled in. He was just a freshman, he hung on and went some distance against a pretty good offense. He settled in in the middle innings, but we scored some runs late. It was good to see. I was happy overall with our performance."

Davis went 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored, and Russo finished 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored to lead the Jaguars at the plate.

South Alabama will attempt to sweep the three-game set in the series finale at 11 a.m. Sunday at Stanky Field. 

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Dugout Club, the baseball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. Members enjoy all games from inside the Stadium Club with climate control, private restrooms, private concessions and access to listen to the radio broadcast. All donations to the Dugout Club go directly to support the South Alabama baseball program. For more information on how you can join visit: jaguarathleticfund.com/dugoutclub